By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Who doesn’t love it when a plan comes together?
Answer: a football team facing a triple-option offense.
Friday night, that was explosive Evangel, featuring phenomenal sophomore quarterback Peyton “Pop” Houston, his dynamic receiving corps and a wide-open playbook.
But Byrd had the antidote with the combination of its Wing-T running game, a Purple Swarm defense that offset Houston’s production by producing a pair of pivotal red zone turnovers, and calm confidence that helped weather Evangel’s push to take control just after halftime.
The visiting Yellow Jackets stacked together a 21-point run in a 12-minute span coming down the stretch, denied Evangel a momentum-changing touchdown with Azariae Barfield’s goalline interception midway through the fourth quarter, and jubilantly drove home from Rodney Duron Stadium with a 35-23 District 1-5A victory Friday night.
Byrd finished by giving a Gatorade bath to coach Stacy Ballew in the waning seconds as the Jackets moved their record to 3-0, the last two in 1-5A contests. It left Evangel coach Denny Duron channeling Dennis Green, the former Arizona Cardinals coach who famously said, “they are who we thought they were.”
Said Duron, fresh from the postgame handshake line: “These Byrd Yellow Jackets are for real. I knew they were on film, all week long, and they were everything and more that I thought they were.”
As for defending the Jackets’ trademark option offense? “It is almost impossible,” he said after watching Byrd’s Wing-T stack up 398 rushing yards, 171 from Desmond Simmons and 157 more by Christian Maxie.
“We ran it well,” said Ballew. “(Quarterback) Harrison Ayres and the offense did a great job tonight. We didn’t turn it over and we kept the ball moving. Even when we had penalties, we were able to overcome them. The offense came through … in the fourth quarter, and the defense did as well.”
“I’m just here not to mess it up,” said Ayres. “I’m the facilitator. I get the ball to our playmakers. My O-line, my coaches, those guys make it easy on me.”
It didn’t look easy when the first half ended after Byrd squandered two straight drives into scoring position and failed to pad a 14-10 edge. It looked downright challenging when Evangel converted an onside kick opening the third period, moved ahead five snaps later on Houston’s 11-yarder to Johnny Casey Jr., and stymied Byrd on an ensuing three-and-out series.
“We kind of sputtered and left points out there going into the half,” admitted Ayres. “I told my guys, ‘look, play our brand of football and stay calm. That’s all we gotta do. Stay calm and we’re alright.’ And the scoreboard reflects that.”
The Byrd defense came up with a stop on the next series. Stirred, not shaken, Ayres and company roared to life on a go-ahead six-snap, 87-yard drive finished on Quinton Hilliard’s 27-yard TD scamper, immediately after a 32-yard score by Maxie was wiped out by a penalty. Simmons’ second and third touchdowns ended the next two Byrd series, which covered 47 and 85 yards to put the visitors in command, 35-17 with 3:26 remaining.
Evangel (1-2, 1-1) almost got back in it, but Barfield snatched a Houston rocket at the goalline with 6:43 to go. The buzzing Yellow Jackets needed only seven plays to apply the fatal stinger.
“I was worried,” said Ballew. “They dominated the first six minutes of the third quarter. It was very evident. But our kids kept plugging away. We got one turnover down on the goalline that got us out of a jam. We made them drive it, played ‘bend, don’t break’ defense, got the interception and that helped out a bunch.
“Hats off to our kids. Our kids are playing lights out right now. Couldn’t be prouder of them. Coaching staff did a great job, kids did a great job all week. The kids are starting to believe in themselves.”
Simmons confirmed.
“Our coaches always say keep fighting, keep digging, and that’s what we did. We played hard-nosed football and fought through it,” he said. “We turned it on.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
BYRD 35, EVANGEL 23
Scoring Summary
E – Kaegen Kent 30 field goal, 8:26 1st, ECA 3-0
B – Christian Maxie 3 run (Asher Murray kick), 5:15 1st, Byrd 7-3
E – Josh Isaac 11 run (Kent kick), 2:33 1st, ECA 10-7
B – Desmond Simmons 31 run (Murray kick), 11:15 2nd, Byrd 14-10
E – Nate Green 4 pass from Pop Houston (Kent kick), 10:07 3rd, ECA 17-14
B – Quinton Hilliard 27 run (Murray kick), 3:27 3rd, Byrd 21-17
B – Simmons 11 pass from Harrison Ayres (Murray kick), 8:23 4th, Byrd 28-17
B – Simmons 2 run (Murray kick), 3:26 4th, Byrd 35-17
E – Green 28 pass from Houston (pass failed), 1:45 4th, Byrd 35-23
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Byrd (55-398) – Simmons 27-171, 2 TDs; Maxie 12-157, 1 TD; Ayres 8-38, Hilliard 7-32, 1 TD. Evangel (23-109) – Houston 15-75, Isaac 6-28, 1 TD; Charley Abraham 2-6.
PASSING: Byrd – Ayres 1-3, 11, 1 TD; Evangel – Houston 24-33-1, 362, 2 TDs.
RECEIVING: Byrd—Simmons 1-11, 1 TD; Evangel – Bradon Stephens 6-102, Johnny Casey Jr. 6-77, Green 4-73, 2 TDs; Isaac 4-39, Abraham 3-65, Kionte Mims 1-6.